One Heat Wonder

AERIAL antics ruled the roost today down at Belgas with everyone going big in an attempt to bypass round 5 and get the pass into the quarters. In turn, Ace Buchan, Kelly Slater, Jeremy Flores and Jordy Smith managed to do just that at the Rip Curl Pro Portugal.

One round of heats was all that was required today in order to finish the contest tomorrow in the peak of the swell. Today Belgas, or the 'cabbage patch', sucked-up enough of the forerunners of Hurricane Otto to create a little funpark for round 4 -- during which no-one loses but someone wins. Or two people lose and one person wins.

The swell looks set to continue to build throughout the night allowing the final day to be run in the best available conditions. Just pray that any onshore stays light for as long as is required. Huey you can do whatever you like afterwards as we'll all be thinking of Puerto Rico.

Mathematically there are still four guys involved in the title race, realistically there are two and Jordy needs to gain ground on Kelly this event, he cannot afford to slip any points to the perma-tanned king of surf.

If you missed the fact they changed the format recently, round 4 is basically a breather where you either progress straight into the quarters, or you have to surf again in round 5.

Worth seeing again in its entirety, heat of of the comp. Jordy, Owen and Jadson head-to-head with no reason not to go big, failure only meant you should have pushed it harder and you have to surf again in round 5.

Summing up this battle was the comment that this heat was "between three guys who will be surfing against each other a lot in the years in to come." The 'newest school' switched off Modern Collective and took to the air.

Owen had a touch of fever (maybe from eating green eggs... not advisable) so couldn't quite hang with Jordy Smith and Jadson Andre; both went to town, bought everything, and then burned it at the alter of progression.

Jeremy Flores continued his run of form, sliding into the quarters with a dominant display. Suddenly he looks like a contender again. Letting it all out and Tahitian air is good for him it would seem. Europe's hopes lie with him and the adopted Portugeeza Jadson.

"It's all good," Flores said. "As long as I win heats, I'm stoked. I haven't had the best waves in the last few heats but today was pretty fun. The last few years, I've been trying add airs and fin throws to my repertoire and it hasn't been working. I've moved back to what I do best and it's been working really well for me. I'm stoked to be in the quarters and hope I can keep going."

Ace Buchan's a proponent of the simple philosophy, "I was just focusing on picking good waves and surfing them completely." He's looking a bit smooth this event and could well be the bannna that trips up a title in the semis if he carries on like this.

Tomorrow the call is for an 8am start and waves permitting it'll run through to a conclusion.

"The swell will build overnight to a peak first thing tomorrow morning." Says msw forecast director Ben Freeston. "The peak swell is in the 5ft range, so we'd expect good head high waves with the better sets in excess of this. The models are showing a range of swell periods in the mix that make the forecast just a little harder to read than normal but we expect waves all day, possibly dropping a little in the afternoon from that morning peak. Winds are generally light enough to not be an issue in the morning with a slightly fresher westerly or north westerly building later."